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Proverbs 16:16 NIV
How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver.
ESV (English standard version) and NASB (new American standard bible) both say, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. NLT (new living translation) says; understanding is preferable to silver and KJV (King James Version) says to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver.
It’s not that my friends weren’t wise, it’s that we were applying worldly wisdom to spiritual problems. Our answers weren’t setting us apart from the world, although we thought they were, and they certainly weren’t helping us make Godly choices. We thought we were radical and free thinking, but now, i can see, nothing is more radically free than the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You would never buy a bar of your favourite chocolate from a the corner shop and pay for it with Monopoly money, even if that’s their accepted currency, when you have a limitless credit card that gets paid in full, every night at midnight.
I say credit card because we can really rack up a bill! Sometimes before we’ve even gotten out of bed..
Written by King Solomon, Proverbs is known as the book of wisdom, it is part of the wisdom literature. Here, and in other places such as Proverbs 1:2, 3:19, 8:1 and 10:13 he has placed a high value on wisdom and understanding. We all have dreams and goals of extreme material wealth, even those that now prefer a quieter life were at one point plagued by the false god and idol that is money. Here we see money in Solomon’s terms- gold and silver, land and cattle. Solomon known as the richest man in the world, to date, finally found the better and ultimately most true revelation of his thousand wives, 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. Like all of us, he eventually found God’s perspective on money and wealth. This perspective is only found through a right relationship with God.
I pray you too receive that revelation, but we’re here to talk about wisdom. The thing with God is that He never gives you just one thing, this hunt for wisdom could lead you anywhere. It will lead you slowly but surely through the narrow gate. Wisdom can be gained by studying and learning God’s word.
Read Proverbs 16, you will see a continuous comparison and contrast between the just and the unjust, the diligent and the lazy. They are short, sharp and too the point. They are a great source of self- reflection.
Have you seen those hoover adverts, ‘if you want something like a Dyson, buy a Dyson’, or maybe you’ve heard the phrase ‘you get what you pay for’.
The same applies here, if you want wisdom, true wisdom, not just wisdom from guru’s or specialists but real, true wisdom. You have to go to the source, you have to go to God. Godly wisdom is a gift from God, and it honours God, it begins with the fear of God and will lead you to a holy life. Worldly wisdom only glorifies the world and yourself. God’s wisdom is part of His preparation for eternity. Dr Mike Murdock has written a fantastic book on the principles of wisdom keys, you can also check out his YouTube Channel. There are many sources available for you to obtain practical instructions for your life, we all make mistakes, the trick is to learn from them and avoid repeating them.
Wisdom may even look completely different from what seems and sounds reasonable and honest. In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus said some pretty radical things about the ways of the world and how they should be, our eternity is going to look a little like we imagine and nothing at all like what we thought. In His time, and even compared to today, they were astounding. You’ll see that Godly wisdom is often the exact opposite of our natural desires and intentions, it’s goal is to further the kingdom of God. It is directly involved in our daily crucifixion, our daily battle of denying ourselves, taking up our crosses and following Jesus as He instructed us in Matthew 16:24.
The sermon on the Mount runs from Matthew 5- 7, it begins with the beatitudes. I have put verses 3– 10 comprised of different versions for a fuller understanding of what Jesus said.
3.God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him, for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. Imagine being poor, it’s really not that hard and a man coming and telling you that you are blessed in your current state that there is a king- dom waiting just for you. When you think about King’s and Queen’s, royalty, any royalty from ancient Egyptian to the British Royalty, it’s not yours because you’ve been born into the right family, remember, are are poor! It is yours, because you are poor, and because of this poverty, you have realized you need God, and now you have a king- dom. Now that we’ve covered physical need, let’s get to the heart of what Jesus was saying, which is usually easier with context. God blesses those who realize they are spiritually poor, and out of this need to become spiritually rich He will bless you with everything He has in His kings- dominion, his kingdom.
4. God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. God blesses those who mourn with His own unending, and all enveloping comfort. Your pain, when compared to God’s love for you is like comparing a single droplet of rain, to the ocean.
5. Blessed are the meek (or gentle, humble), for they shall inherit the earth. The kingdom of Heaven is for right now. It is not a make believe fairy land you can only enter once you’ve died- if you’ve been good enough, it is yesterday, today, tomorrow. Now. Not only is God promising you will inherit His kingdom in and for eternity, but you can have it right now.
6. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice (or more commonly seen, righteousness), for they will be satisfied. Think of all your needs. If you take care of who and what God cares for, they will all be satisfied. I’m talking, hunger, poverty, racism, ageism, all the isms. Think of your world. Your world comprises of your family, your house, your neighbourhood and community, your job, your colleagues. Hungering and thirsting for justice doesn’t have to mean taking down the corporate man, starting a national campaign for farer wages. It can look like not gossiping about anyone on the street or in your family, welcoming everyone to make them feel welcomed, doing your best in your home, at your job- simple things.
7. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9. Blessed are the peacemakers (or those who work for peace), for they shall be called sons of God.
10. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right (or for righteousness sake), for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
Back to the point, wisdom. Wisdom is the ‘state of being wise’, it’s not just a one time occurrence, it’s a lived in, constant state of being. It is the ‘ability to discern, or judge what is true, right, or lasting’, wisdom cannot exist without knowledge, or how will you discern or judge? You can be knowledgeable, but not wise.
When i googled knowledge/ wisdom analogies, one that came up again and again is this.
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
If you look back at verses 6–10, how can you know when and how to be merciful, pure, a peacemakers and a real member of the justice league, if you don’t know when to be merciful, how to make and keep peace, or who deserves justice? You can’t follow instructions you were never given, that would be cruel, it’s a good job God has been talking to us since Adam and even left us a book… God hasn’t asked us to obey Him, without telling us how to do it. Reading your bible is the best way to gain knowledge of God, and once we have this knowledge we can pray and God will give us wisdom to use what He has said.
James talks more about this gift of wisdom in his book. From chapter 3: 13- 18 he talks about two kinds of wisdom, wisdom from God and wisdom from the world. He begins by asking who is wise amongst us, and asks them to prove they are wise by demonstrating wisdom and understanding in the ‘meekness (or gentility, humility) that comes from wisdom’ throughout their life, not just one event, similar wording was used earlier in Matthew 5:5.
Like the contrast in Proverbs 16, and echoing the words of Jesus in Matthew 5, here James contrast wisdom and gives us a clear differentiation between the two kinds of wisdom.
He says the wisdom of the world comprises of bitter envy and selfish ambition and this wisdom is earthly, from the world, unspiritual, not from God and ultimately anything not from God is demonic. James and Paul say the same things, in 1 Corinthians 3:3 Paul says, where jealously and quarrelling are is worldliness, and where worldliness is, there is no wisdom. James continues by saying anyone having these traits and claims to be wise is arrogant and a liar. Godly wisdom, heavenly wisdom is pure, peace- loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. Heavenly wisdom is not out of reach, it really is, as James points out in 1:5, ask God and He will generously give it without finding fault.
Wisdom is covered in many parts of the bible. Most commonly the wisdom literature refers too Proverbs, Psalms, Job and Ecclesiastes. This collective is also known as the Sapiential books, a fancy phrase for the biblical books of wisdom of the Old Testament. Lack of true wisdom and an abundance of false wisdom is what Paul says led to the crucifixion of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 2:6–8 titled ‘wisdom from the Spirit’, Paul says wise and elaborate words laced with eloquence or superiority are unnecessary, only a true testimony about God and Jesus Christ spoken and delivered with weakness, fear and trembling to demonstrate the Spirit’s power are needed so that we might rely on God’s power and not men’s wisdom. God’s wisdom, he reveals was destined for our glory all along through freely gaining the thoughts of God by His Spirit. Paul explains that no one can know your thoughts, or mine, except out own Spirits, so how can we know God’s thoughts unless they are revealed to us by His Spirit?
Having God’s Spirit within us and learning from Him helps us understand what He has given us, wisdom, love, peace ect. So now we must speak, Paul says in words taught to us by the Spirit, not in words taught to us from the world to express and interpret these newly found, or learnt truths enabling you to make wise judgements. Paul says a man without the Spirit cannot accept things that come from God’s Spirit, he sees them as foolishness, without the mind of the Lord, without the mind of Christ, how can you be expected to be properly instructed?
Solomon, James and Paul all connect wisdom with having a meek and gentle Spirit, just as Jesus said. This all begins with a humility before the Lord, often seen as the fear of the Lord. It is not saying to obey out of fear but obeying out of a fear of disappointing, grieving or upsetting God, because He means more to you than anyone or anything else in your life. Humility leads to fear, fear leads to wisdom, wisdom leads to honour.
Now, i hope you can see why me and my friends, no matter how good out intentions were, were not walking in wisdom. I had to make a choice about how i wanted to live my life, who i wanted to live it for and how my life would look. Sadly, i had to walk away from them, it hurt, but it was one of the wisest choices i have ever made.
I swapped my monopoly money for something worth more than all the silver and gold in the world and found honour, not from people but from God.
If you have never invited Jesus Christ into your life and would like too, here is a short prayer for you to say out loud. Living a Christian life, wholly for Jesus is not easy, but it is worth it.
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for dying for me on the cross and taking away all my sin. Thank you for loving me even when i rejected you. Come into my life and take first place. Help me to become who you know i am. Thank you, i know and believe because i have asked i am not eternally saved.
In your name, i have prayed. Amen.
I hope you prayed that prayer, good luck with your journey, there are plenty of resources available to you to help guide you with God, the most important of which is your bible and your prayers and talks with God. Here are some additional resources including other blogs, websites, pages, scriptures and key word searches.
No commission has been made from anything in this post, it is not sponsored in anyway. Including all links and mentions of specific people by name.
Matthew 16:24 — Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me’’ from BibleApp online.
Proverbs 16 — scripture, chapter context and summary from Bible Ref.
More on Godly wisdom from Got Questions.
An internet search on crucifixion.
A Got Questions search on wisdom, desire, peace, joy, difference between the world (or flesh) and the Spirit.
A post on God Questions asking ‘If Jesus paid the price for our sin, why do we still suffer the consequences of our sin?’.
An internet search on Mammon, the name of the god of money and wealth, and a search from Got Questions.
A Got questions post titled ‘What is wisdom literature?’.
